Only Alone
by PutteringPoet
Summary: She had needed some alone time and a book was the best place to escape at a time like this. Ron looked down at her and all his worry and hurt melted away. They were alone. The tension was gone. It felt like before. Before the anger and hurt. Perfection.


Hermione Granger sat in the library, reading one of her favorite books.

She had needed some alone time and a book was the best place to escape to at a time like this.

She had been there for quite some time and, being a rapt reader, had lost track of the time.

It was pitch black outside, after midnight; she had come there directly after supper, changing into her Muggle pajamas first.

She didn't hear Ron break in, didn't even hear his muttered curse as he stubbed his toe on a table.

Ron looked down at her, gave a huge sigh of relief and grinned, shaking his head. Of course she'd be in here. She probably lost track of the time. The librarian must not have checked to see if anyone else had still been in there.

One of her roommates had been looking for her earlier while he was talking with Harry, so he'd brushed off Harry's comments about going to bed, saying something about meeting Lavender.

This wasn't true as Lavender had decided she was very exhausted and wanted to go to bed.

He had been sitting in a chair in the common room, staring unseeing into the fire, when he realized that Hermione hadn't walked in yet.

That made him worry about her even more, so he'd decided to go look for her, remembering how she'd raced out of the Great Hall earlier, during supper, screaming that she never wanted to see his face again.

That had knifed through his chest as fast as lightning.

As he looked down at her now his worry and hurt melted away, and his chest was filled with an emotion he could only describe as love and affection.

She was curled up on the couch with a book in her lap, her eyes moving slightly as she read, giving a gasp which Ron took to mean she was in the climax of the story, her head bent even closer to the book.

This was such a rare moment now. No yelling or screaming. Just them. Of course, Hermione didn't even know he was there, she'd always been like that, so absorbed in her own little world when she was there that she didn't notice anything else that went on. It probably didn't even count.

But he didn't care.

It had been a long time since he and Hermione had been alone together, and he was reluctant to announce his presence to her.

These days it seemed as though whenever Hermione and he were in the same room, they could slice the tension with a knife, if they even were together, Hermione was so excellent at avoiding him that it could be days before he was able to lay eyes on her.

The days in between sights of her were torture to him, something that only snogging Lavender seemed to distract him from.

When he finally saw her and she hadn't been able to duck out fast enough, he would provoke Hermione to yell at him, just so she wouldn't leave him again just yet.

Yelling back served to detain her further.

He liked snogging Lavender Brown, it was good practice, but he knew that it was Hermione's lips he sometimes imagined pressed against his.

It was the only thing that assisted him in the continued tolerance of Lavender Brown.

Only he knew that if Hermione showed the slightest hint of interest towards him, he would drop Brown like a pair of soiled socks.

He'd loved her for the past three years.

It wasn't something he could help, although he figured it had started in their second year, when she brewed the Polyjuice Potion.

He didn't know how it happened, but one day, when she'd been diligently studying for Buckbeak's trial, she had looked up at him from her pile of books, and gave him the brightest smile he had ever seen.

That was when he knew; he was completely in love with Hermione Granger.

It scared him to death, he'd never felt such a strong emotion in his life, and he was only thirteen!

But he'd learned to live with it, though it had very nearly killed him when she and Viktor Krum had gotten a mite too friendly.

So when Lavender latched on to him, he'd latched right back on to her, hoping that maybe that would get Hermione jealous and maybe fall for him too.

He couldn't tell what she was feeling these days, all she did was yell, so probably anger.

He supposed that could be interpreted as jealousy but he didn't want to get his hopes up only to have them dashed to ground.

Sometimes he worried that she might have feelings for Harry, but that was too terrifying to even consider.

Right now it was just him and Hermione, no Lavender, no Harry, nobody.

It was perfect; she didn't even realize he was there.

Seeing as she was so wholly engrossed in her book, at least that's what his excuse would be when she finally realized he was there, he gladly took a seat in the chair across from her, linking his hands together and resting them on his stomach, his legs sprawled out in front of him.

He contented himself with studying every inch of her; her face changing with every word she read, her hands tightening their grip on the book, her soft lips moving slightly, her hair gradually falling forward...

He stopped his studying and became fascinated by her long brown curls falling oh so slowly, one strand at a time, from her back, to the tip of her shoulder, and finally drifting off her shoulders to dangle in front of her face.

There went one.

It was agonizingly slow and when it reached it's destination, it swayed slightly.

Ah here came another, and another, and another.

It went on and on until finally the entire left side of her hair was hiding the left side of her face.

Ron was not having that, but as he moved to push her hair away, Hermione did it herself, eyes never leaving page.

He smiled and settled back into his seat, resuming his previous quest of memorizing the sight of her reading, as though he had not done it countless times before.

She murmured something undecipherable, bringing a smile to his face, his chest filled up even more.

As the night grew longer and he still did not feel the need to alert her to his presence, although he had been sitting there for quite some time, he felt his eyelids getting heavier, but he struggled to fight against his fatigue.

He was savoring this time and thought it was considerably better spent sitting here, alone with Hermione and memorizing every inch of her, rather than sleeping.

His eyes caressed her ear, slowly slithered down the curve of her neck, stopped for a time when they reached her collarbone, lingered at her bare shoulder, down her slim arm, and to her long fingers wrapped around the edge of the book.

He moved them back up to her lips, licking his own that were suddenly dry.

He imagined her looking up, throwing the book aside, then coming to straddle him and press those perfect lips against his.

He, as quiet as he could manage, sighed happily as he moved his eyes to her pink tank top and blue checkered sleep pants, he noticed a grey zip-up hoodie in a pile beside her.

He would have wondered why she was dressed in the Muggle clothes, but she had told him and Harry a while back that she felt more comfortable and less homesick in them.

Seeing as he had been up too late the night before as well; Lavender had been very demanding, and so lost the waging battle against his heavy eyelids and the sight of the barely-there cleavage he was now concentrating on.

He fell asleep, dreams of Hermione filling his unconscious mind.

Almost an hour later Hermione closed her book with a satisfying thud, her lips stretched into a smile; it was a brilliant ending to an excellent book.

As she looked up, she was taken aback by the sight of her former best friend asleep in the chair in front of her.

She swung her head toward the ancient grandfather clock, seeing that it was well after one o'clock in the morning, and gave a small gasp.

Although she couldn't believe that she'd been sitting there for hours and hours, it was more shocking to see Ron right in front of her.

She looked back toward him and wondered how long he'd been there, why he was even there in the first place.

Especially after what she'd said at supper.

The bite of those words came back and she immediately hated herself for saying them.

It had been a long time since they'd been together without screaming or her ducking out of sight.

It was a welcome change and Hermione sighed at the lack of animosity she was feeling.

"Ronald.... Wake up. It's time for bed." She said in a sing-song voice, trying to wake him sweetly. The only response she got from that was a twitch of his nose.

She smiled, and then threw off the blanket and slowly stood up, groaning and stretching her tired limbs, which took a while, seeing as she'd been sitting there for a good amount of time.

When she was done with that, she moved towards the sleeping red-head.

As she looked at the shock of hair that constantly fell across his eyes, his linked hands lying on his stomach, his long legs sprawled in front of him, and his chest as it moved up and down with every breath he took, she felt an emotion fill up her chest to it's full capacity that she could only identify as affection and love.

She couldn't believe she had fallen for him.

Sure it had been three years since she had figured it out, but still… She was amazed at the strength of emotion she felt towards him.

She reached her hand towards him, and threaded her fingers through the thatch of hair, pushing it out of his eyes, savoring the feeling of the strands tangling in her grasp.

He sighed and leaned his head closer to her hand, still asleep. Her heart quickened and she smiled tenderly.

She wondered to herself how she could ever get up the courage to tell him how she felt about him, especially since all the talking they had been doing of late was screaming and arguing.

This, in fact, was the first time they had been completely and utterly alone since he'd started dating Lavender Brown.

Lavender Brown… she marveled at how fast those two colors had become the ones she loathed the most, not to mention the girl herself.

Not wanting to think about the wench, she pushed all thoughts of Brown out of her mind.

She breathed in the silence and closed her eyes as she savored the moment.

But she knew she had to get Ron and herself to bed, the nonsense of this whole situation was slowly becoming clear to her.

They were both out of bed at almost two in the morning and Ron was asleep in the library after finding Hermione who hadn't been found by the librarian, Ron hadn't felt the need to enlighten her to the fact that it was way too late and she needed to go to sleep in her room, so he'd fallen asleep, and now she was just standing here staring at him not waking him up.

Completely ridiculous…

How was she supposed to wake him up when he looked so peaceful?

With a heavy sigh she put her hand on Ron's solid shoulder, oh bloody hell, and shook it.

"Ron, Ron, wake up. We have to get to our beds before Filch catches us."

He opened his eyes and blinked, focusing them.

"'Mione?" He asked.

"Hey, it's late. We need to get to the tower."

The clock gonged twice, emphasizing the truth of that statement.

Ron groaned and stretched his arms, pushing himself farther down into the couch, making him look like a sleepy toddler.

Hermione giggled at the sight and Ron opened his eyes fast, startled into wakefulness at the sound.

"Did I fall asleep?" He said, still befuddled.

"I believe so. How long have you been there?"

"I don't really know… I went looking for you when the clock chimed at midnight and I realized you hadn't come back yet. When I found you, you didn't even see me so, seeing as you were so much into your book, I decided that I'd let you come out of it slowly, so I sat down. Guess I fell asleep." He shrugged indifferently.

Hermione, touched by the fact that he still cared so much to come look for her, smiled at him.

Ron was taken aback by the genuine smile she gave him; he hadn't seen that smile directed towards for a long time, since he'd begun dating Lavender, as a matter of fact.

He hadn't realized how much he'd missed that smile until now.

The lack of that brightness in his life was suddenly revealed to him and he could barely stand the emptiness he felt.

He sat there dumbfounded for a moment, before realizing that she was waiting for him to say something.

"Er- Um… Do you- I mean- Should we…?" He stuttered out, and then cursed himself for his awkwardness.

Hermione grinned at this and decided to rescue him. "I suppose we should go to bed now."

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right." He stood up and stretched.

Hermione found herself unable to look away.

His shirt had come up and she saw the skin on his midriff and the rich red hair that dipped tantalizingly down, until her eyes reached the top of his pants.

When he put his arms back down, she was still staring there, he looked at her curiously. "Hermione?"

She met is his eyes quickly, her face flushing. "Yes?"

"Are you alright?" He grinned, he couldn't remember ever seeing Hermione blush.

"I'm fine, Ronald." She replied rationally, when she saw his grin.

"Alright then. Ladies first." He said, gesturing for her to go ahead.

"Hang on; I have to put the book back." Hermione walked back to the couch and picked the book up. She moved towards the bookshelves, searching for the place where she found it.

"Ah, here it is." It was a higher shelf and she couldn't reach it, no matter how much she stretched. She was on the verge of climbing on to a chair when she felt something warm and hard come up behind her; Ron's chest.

"Here, let me help." Ron said softly in her ear, taking the book out of her hand. She stood still as she watched his hand easily place the book in the shelf she had not been able to reach herself.

"Thank you." She whispered, she tried to move away but Ron wasn't having that. He placed both hands on the counter behind her, locking her in.

He didn't know what he was doing. He only knew that she couldn't be allowed to move away from him. He'd never had her this close before. He bent his head and breathed in her the smell of her shampoo.

Hermione turned. She didn't want to leave. She hadn't been this close to Ron in all her life. As she took in a deep breath, his cologne hit her nose, making it tingle.

She looked up, into his eyes and lost herself. All she knew were those deep blue eyes staring straight into her own. She felt her heart begin to ache as she saw the deepest emotion in them that she'd only felt herself.

Was it possible? Did Ron feel this too?

She was facing him, her chocolate brown eyes staring into his. He saw something in them he never expected to see; love. He gasped.

Did she? Did she love him as well? Could she possibly?

"Ron?" She said shyly.

"Yes, 'Mione?" He replied hopefully.

"I'm so sorry for what I said after supper. I didn't mean it."

He stared at her lips as they formed the words. "It's alright, Hermione. No harm done."

"Hermione?" He spoke carefully.

"Yes?" She replied.

"I really, really want to kiss you." Ron said, not really thinking about it.

Hermione smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing herself against him. "Then go ahead."

His eyes widened and he wound his arms around her waist. He bent his head down and stared into her eyes, savoring the moment. She gave him a questioning look and he smiled, then pressed his lips to hers.

A torrent of emotions filled up inside of him, rushing and spinning and racing around and around. He felt complete chaos inside as he moved his lips on hers. Nothing had ever felt so perfect and so hectic at the same time. He felt love, joy, glee, anger, sadness, angst, and desire all at once. Then she responded. All other emotions fled him but love and desire. He pushed his hands into her hair, her glorious hair that was so completely her.

Hermione couldn't believe what was happening. Ronald was kissing her. Her! Hermione Granger! He was kissing her passionately too. She couldn't help but kiss him back.

Her heart pounded when he put his hands in her hair, her skin was on fire when he pressed his lips to her neck, her body clung to him when he lifted her onto the counter behind her, she wrapped her legs around his waist when he nibbled her ear, she couldn't help but moan when he sucked at the sensitive spot on her neck. How had he found that?

Her hands were all over him, she ran them up and down his back, across his shoulders, into his hair, then finally lifted his shirt so she could touch his skin. He growled when she bit his lower lip and nibbled at her sensitive spot, which he'd found by chance. He heard her moan at this and sucked the same area, drawing another moan from her. He captured her lips again, they were the most amazing things he'd ever tasted.

Then something made them both jump; a loud meow. The pair broke apart and looked down to see Mrs. Norris staring at them accusingly. Hermione was on the counter, bent back with Ron leaning over her, her hair was a mess, her hands were under his shirt, legs around his waist, and her lips were swollen and red. The two looked at each other, Ron pulled back fast, and Hermione jumped off the counter. Ron grabbed her hand and ran for the door. Filch could be there at any time and they had to escape back to their dormitory.

They raced through the corridors laughing, Ron tugging her along with one hand. When they reached the painting of the fat lady and got into the common room both were breathless with laughter. They collapsed on to the couch and caught their breaths.

"Ron?" Hermione said.

"Yeah?" Ron said.

"I love you." She whispered.

Ron froze for a few moments. A bit too long for Hermione.

She stood up and made for the stairs, tears pooling in her eyes. "Ron, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that, I need to go to bed so I'll just see you-" She was cut off when Ron grabbed her wrist and pulled her on to his lap.

"Where do you think you're going?" He whispered in her ear.

She looked up at him, a couple of tears spilling on her cheeks. Ron kissed them away.

"So you love me, huh?" He murmured thoughtfully, one hand on her waist, the other stroking her cheek, his eyes boring holes into hers.

"Yes." She whispered. "But if you don't love me then that's okay. I can live with that." She didn't move at all, waiting for his answer.

"Oh 'Mione. I love you too. I have since Third Year." He kissed the tip of her nose.

This time it was Hermione's turn to be shocked. "But you're snogging Lavender Brown!"

"I know. I'm sorry. I just… I was trying to make you jealous." He said remorsefully.

"Ronald! That really irks me!" Still she did not move, only to turn her cheek against his chest, feeling his heart beating.

"I can tell that it does." He said with a smile.

"It does." She replied halfheartedly.

"I'm breaking up with her." He whispered.

"You are?" She said hopefully, looking into his eyes.

"Yep." He would do anything she wanted just so long as he could look into her eyes.

She took his hand from her cheek and pressed a kiss into his palm. He sucked in a deep breath.

They sat there for a while, staring into the fire, just enjoying each other. Then the clock chimed three times.

"Aw bloody hell. Got Quidditch practice in the morning." Ron moaned.

"What time?"

"Six. Harry's a tough captain." Ron looked down at the girl in his arms and smiled. "It might be easier if I just stay awake…"

"So does that mean I have to stay up too?" Hermione demanded, a bit perturbed at the thought of not going to sleep until 6 and sleeping all day.

"No, it means you can sleep while I hold you." He retorted.

"That's not creepy at all, Ronald, watching me sleep?" She shot back.

"No it's not. It's just me." He said in a much softer voice, begging her to understand.

She smiled and looked up at him with her big brown eyes.

"Alright, I have my own room. I can levitate you over the stairs." She stood and walked over to the staircase. "Coming?"

Ron laughed and took three long strides, pulling her into his arms and kissing her soundly.

She pulled back and levitated him over the stairs. "A bit eager there, aren't we? I'm going to sleep and you can watch me all you like." She said as she walked up and pulled him into her room.

"Tease." He mumbled into her mouth when he pulled her to him again. She giggled and kissed him back. He pressed her against a wall and kissed her shoulders, neck, ears, and ran his hands under her shirt, feeling her hot skin under his hands. All Hermione could do was stand there with her hands in his hair, moaning and whimpering when he nibbled, bit, and kissed. She wrapped her legs around his waist, he pressed her back hard against the wall to give her some leverage.

When Ron finally pulled away, he rested his forehead on hers, his hands were clutching her sides, thumbs rubbing circles into the skin.

"So what do you want to do now?" He asked with a smirk.

"You're killing me here, Ron. You know I want to sleep."

Ron stopped and pulled away. "Oh right, I knew that. Sorry." Disappointment and hurt showing on his face.

"I just want to wait until I get married, I know it's old fashioned but that's just the way I am." Her eyes begged him to understand.

He sighed and smiled into her eyes. "It's alright. I kind of feel the same way."

"Kind of?" She said questioningly.

"Well I'm a guy, Hermione. I do want to save myself, but if you were willing to have sex, then I would take full advantage of that. But since you want to wait, I'll wait with you.

She smiled and pulled it on quickly, then wrapped him in a hug. "I love you so much, Ron."

"I love you too, 'Mione." He pulled away and made himself comfortable on the bed, patting his chest. "Come here." He said with a smile.

She smiled as her heart melted and lied down next to him. She put her head on his chest and wrapped her arm around his waist.

"You're definitely breaking it off with Brown tomorrow?" She asked.

"I'm definitely breaking it off with Brown." He said smiling at the fact that she was still worried.

"Thank you." She whispered and kissed his jaw.

"Anything for you." He answered.

She smiled into his shirt.

"Sweet dreams, love." He whispered.

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_Review! :)_


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